Some of the first anime to make it big in the West were Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon. Their enduring popularity is an equally endless source of nostalgia, even for those who didn't grow up watching them. '80s and '90s nostalgia has, over the last decade, given rise to Vaporwave. This sample-laden retrofest of a musical genre combines the glitz and glam of the late '80s/early '90s with representations of capitalism and excess, as well as a heaping helping of colorful anime and video games. One of the biggest names in the Vaporwave genre is Macross 82-99, a Mexican music producer who's pioneered the subgenre of Future Funk. Some of his best works include the Sailorwave albums, which unite sugary Japanese pop music from yesteryear with a certain Pretty Guardian.

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A E S T H E T I C

Though plunderphonics songs that heavily sampled other works existed long before, the Vaporwave genre is seen by many as beginning in 2010 with the release of Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1. This album had cover art based off of the Sega video game Ecco the Dolphin, with the songs within sampling and remixing old hits from Fleetwood Mac, Toto and others into ambient, dream-like tunes. Macintosh Plus' Floral Shoppe solidified other elements of the genre, such as the presence of Greco-Roman statues, Arizona Green Tea, video game sounds, old-school anime and Memphis Milano artwork. The genre quickly rose in popularity, especially among classic video game and anime enthusiasts, as well as those simply seeking to experience the '80s again or for the first time.

The genre is very similar and closely related to Synthwave, Chillwave, and lo-fi music, causing some confusion as to where one genre begins or ends. Official offshoots include Hardvapour, which combined an edgier sound with a dystopian, Post-Soviet rejection of Capitalistic excess, as well as Mallsoft, Simpsonwave and Fashwave. The former ties into the incredible mall culture of the late 20th century, further extending the genre's influence by being integral to the growing fandom of Dead Mall videos on Youtube. Simpsonwave combines old-school tunes with VHS-ified footage of The Simpsons, while Fashwave is a political genre that many times features Nazi iconography.

Easily the most popular subgenre of Vaporwave is Future Funk, which is much more upbeat than the more atmospheric main genre. Songs in this genre take the anime presence to an extreme by pairing it with peppy Japanese City Pop fit for a disco. Whereas Vaporwave typically slows and deepens songs' audio, Future Funk increases the speed and raises the pitch, all while adding snazzy, pulse-pounding drums. The disco and house elements are usually combined in music videos with footage from anime such as Urusei Yatsura, Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Sailor Moon, especially when involving the work of the aptly named Macross 82-99.

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The Future is Bright

Macross 82-99 - real name Alberto Munoz Calderon - was inspired by electronic acts such as Daft Punk before beginning his own career in the burgeoning Future Funk subgenre. Also an avid fan of anime and Japanese culture in general, he wanted his music to reflect these interests. The Sailorwave trilogy is a great example of this, as the albums' genesis was the producer being heavily into rewatching Sailor Moon at the time. The first of these albums was released in the tail end of 2013, tickling listeners' ears with songs such as NEW DAWN, which samples and heavily remixes Merry Go Round by J-Pop icon Tatsuro Yamashita. Yamashita is also the husband of J-Pop and Vaporwave goddess Mariya Takeuchi, whose beloved song Plastic Love has become an anthem of both Vaporwave and Future Funk.

The actual songs on the album typically have very little if anything to do with Sailor Moon, with the link mainly being made due to the album cover. The music videos for similar Future Funk songs do have closer ties, with said videos featuring unrelated but cute GIFs from the Sailor Moon anime. A similar concept was used by Netherlands-based Vaporwave composer Maitro, who produced three albums in a series he titled Dragonball Wave. Perhaps the first album's most notable track was Snake Way, named after a concept from Dragon Ball Z. An example of more classical Vaporwave, this song transformed The Rippington's smooth and sultry Tourist in Paradise into an echoing miasma of music. Needless to say, this expansive genre of music has ties across all manner of fandom, but those seeking a return to the '80s and a look at old school anime in particular could choose no better starting point than Sailorwave.

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